Skip to main content

tv   Face the Nation  CBS  October 28, 2012 8:30am-9:00am PDT

8:30 am
>> schieffer: today on "face the nation," in a campaign with everything else, why not a monster storm? with just sten days left until election day, it is almost over. we've had the conventions, the debates, and now some along the east coast are pordin are aboarding up while others are trying to vote early before the big blow they're call frankenstorm hits. it could threaten 64 million americans. we'll get the latest from our correspondents and weather experts. with the polls closer than ever, they still had a spring in their step and a smile on their faces this weekend. ♪ oh, baby here i am, ♪ >> i want you to know how
8:31 am
optimistic i am. this is about to get real good. >> we now have gone through months of campaigning, wasted many tv ads. oh, yes. got an amen over here. >> schieffer: we'll get the latest from republican senator john mccain, and obama supporter mayor rahm emanuel of chicago. plus analysis from ruth marcus of the "washington post." mark leibovich of the "new york times magazine." bob shrum of the the "daily beast." john fund of the "national review." and cbs news political director, john dickerson. here comes the storm because this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: and good morning again. welcome to "face the nation."
8:32 am
and if there were not enough political and weather news, add this-- an earthquake that measures a magnitude of 7.7 has taken place off the coast of western canada. no injuries or damage reported so far there. so we're going to start with the big storm up the east coast of the united states, hurricane sandy. for that, we go to chief meteorologist david bernard from our miami, florida, station wfor. dave, tell us what you know. >> reporter: all right, good morning, bob. all right the weather is starting to affect the mid-atlantic states and the outer banks of north carolina. we can see sandy's rain bands already spreading well inland. this is a massive storm so the weather is going downhill today for the entire east coast. now, this is the wind field forecast. this is for 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. we'll have tropical storm-force winds overspreading almost all of the east coast of the united states, and the hurricane-force wind gusts will begin moving onshore during the day tomorrow,
8:33 am
last through tomorrow night, and probably into tuesday morning as well. you can just see how massive this storm actually is going to be. and that's why we're so worriedly about the storm surge danger. if you're being asked to evacuate, you definitely need to. this is going to bring a tremendous amount of water near and just north of wherever the storm eventually makes landfall. and be-ause up the coast, we could see heavy rains parts of the area, a lot of maryland under a flood watch now as well, 5-10 inches of rain locally could fall in some spots. we have all the ingredients of a terrible storm, bob, coastal flooding, inland nothing. power outages are going to be a huge problem and in the mountains we could be talking about a lot of snow. >> schieffer: thank you very much, dave. and now to cbs news national correspondent chip reid who is in ocean city, maryland. chip, is it there yet? >> reporter: well, not quite the full force of it yet, bob, but we are certainly feeling stronger winds, and the surf is
8:34 am
certainly riled up. the mayor here wants to make sure people don't get complacent, basis year ago, hurricane irene, they had all these dire warnings, and it really didn't do much to this city. he wants to make sure they understand that this time there really could be some severe flooding, a storm surge of 4-eight of 8 feet which would mean where i'm standing will certainly be underwater. he's warning people in the low-lying parts of the island to prepare to evacuate. he said power could be out for days. they need a disaster supply kit. it's very important that people don't get complacent based on what happened a year ago because this one could be much worse. bob. >> schieffer: all right, thank you, my friend. chip reid in maryland. let's go now to cbs news correspondent elaine quijano. she is at point pleasant beach, new jersey this morning. elaine, what's the latest there? >> reporter: good morning to you, bob. well, governor chris christie has declared a statement of emergency here in new jersey, and he's also ordered the mandatory evacuation for
8:35 am
residents who live on the barrier islands. that begin at 4:00 this afternoon. really, the big concern here is the water. officials say the storm surge, combined with high tiepped, could send water levels much higher than normal. anywhere from 4-8 feet in some areas. another concern, of course, is downed power lines with the approaching winds here. local power companies have been prepositioning their trucks and their crews so that they can be ready to respond once this storm actually does pass. now, to of to the north in new york city, officials have opened up emergency shelters for any residents who want to go ahead and take advantage of that. there is some worry about flooding, particularly in lower manhattan. and mayor michael bloomberg is urging residents to stay inside as hurricane sandy approaches. another big worry, of course, the mass transit. officials will decide today if
8:36 am
in fact theyment to keep the mass transit system open. bob. >> schieffer: okay, thank you very much, elaine. and before we turn to politics, one other weather note. governor cuomo has announced that the new york subway bus and train system will shut down at 7:00 p.m. tonight. there's also news this morning on the campaign front. mitt romney has won the endorsement of the "des moines register" in battleground state iowa. this has not gone to a republican presidential candidate since richard nixon. so to get some reaction to that, and other things, we go to our go-to guy in arizona for news, weather, and sports, john mccain. how's the weather out there, senator? and good morning to you. >> it's very nice and balmy. i think the storm may not reach arizona. but, obviously, the disruption of the airline-- the whole nation, obviously, and our prayers and thoughts are with those who line the path of the storm, and we'll keep praying.
8:37 am
>> schieffer: all right. i want to ask you about that endorsement by the "des moines register." i mean, sometimes endorsements matter. sometimes they don't. it what about this one? >> i think in ray close race, the "register" is very well regarded, and of course it's almost a man bites doggistic because the "register" has not endorsed a republican since, i guess, calvin coolidge. i don't know. i think that aspect of it is-- makes it a big story. and of course it's bound to help a little bit, least, in a very close race, and we view iowa as almost a toss-up. >> schieffer: actually, not since richard nixon. he was the last republican. >> okay. >> schieffer: let me ask you this, senator-- in the last days of this campaign, if this storm turns out to be what they're telling us it's going too, who gets hurt the most by it? >> i'm not sure that it gets hurt. but i-- i think that the president of the united states
8:38 am
is the commander in chief. the american people look to him, and i'm sure he will conduct himself and play his leadership role in a fine fashion. so i would imagine that might help him a little bit. but i'm not sure it will affect votes. people have been exposed to this very long democrat. for the first time, foreign policy is now part of this discussion that we're having. i've been traveling all over. this tragedy turned into a deboch expel massive cover-up or massive incompetence in libya is having an effect on the voter because of their view of the commander in chief. and it is now the worst cover-up or incompetence that i have ever observed in my life. >> schieffer: let me get to that in a second. let me just ask you what you said there. are you saying the president, should he come off the campaign trial now and devote himself to directing storm-relief efforts
8:39 am
and that sort of thing? >> i'm sure he will. at least for a period of time i'm sure that the president will. we all remember new orleans. >> schieffer: what about-- what about what you just said about libya? are you saying now that this was a deliberate cover-up coming out of the libya, that in fact this was not what the administration said it was, but something else entirely, and that, i guess, if it was a cover-up, are you saying they did it for political reasons? >> i don't know if it's either cover-up or gross-- the worst kind of incompetence, which doesn't allow-- doesn't qualify the president as commander in chief. you've got to-- the buildup to it. we knew of two attacks on our consulate. the british ambassador assassination attempt. repeated warnings. repeated warnings. the last message our beloved ambassador sent to us concerns about security in benghazi.
8:40 am
he had even voiced them to me when i was in tripoli. nothing was done. i may not expect the president to know about movement of a few people back and forth, but he certainly should have known about the deteriorating situation and nothing was done. on the day of, obviously, there was no military either capability or orders to intervene in a seven-hour fight. and probably the worst of all of this, of course, is the gross, gross, outrageous statements that he made and his-- i was on your program when susan rice came on. and i was slack-jawed when she went through that routine of t the-- that this was a spontaneous demonstration tricianerred by a video. we now know there was no demonstration. there was no mob. so how could intelligence community ever reach a conclusion that there was a spontaneous demonstration when there wasn't?
8:41 am
you know, this administration is very good at touting and giving all the details like when they got bin laden. but now, we know that there were tapes, recordings inside the consulate during this fight, and they've gotten-- they came-- the f.b.i. finally got in and took those, and now they're classified as "top secret." why would they be top secret? so the property went on various shows, despite what he said he said in the rose garden, about terrift actes, he went on several programes, including "the view" including "letterman" including before the u.n., where he continued to refer, days later, many days later, to this as a spontaneous demonstration because of a hateful video. we know that is patently false. what did the president know? when did he know it? and what did he do about it? >> schieffer: well, i was just going to say, senator, you have called for declassifying the drone pictures. apparently there were drone pictures. why-- have you seen those
8:42 am
pictures, senator? >> no, i have not. but what i do know is, that those in the surveillance records from inside and around the consulate will show that there was no demonstration. the turkish ambassador left his-- the consulate and said good-bye to chris stevens at 8:30 at night. there was no demonstration. so for literally days and days, they told the american people something that had no basis in fact whatsoever. and that is the president of the united states. and so, also, by the way, he said he immediately ordered action to be taken. well, no action was taken over seven hours. now we find out the secretary of defense decided not to take any action. you know, somebody the other day said to me this is as bad as watergate. nobody died in watergate. but this is either a massive cover-up or incompetence that is not acceptable service to the american people.
8:43 am
>> schieffer: what do you think mitt romney needs to do if he called and you said, what, i do need to do now, john, to close this?" what would you tell him? >> i'd say keep doing what he's doing. i think national security, as i said, foreign policy, is now entered into this discussion. i think he is got some momentum. it isn't over till it's over, as yogi used to say. but i think, again, project the image of leadership, capability to be commander in chief, and by the way, this-- this whole debacle in libya has exposedly the failures of the obama foreign policy whether it be in iraq, where al qaeda is now on the upswing. there's al qaeda training camps in iraq. there's iranian planes flying weapons to bashar assad over iraq. syria, 34,000 people now killed, and it's now spilling over into lebanon, turkey, et cetera. all we do is say to the people in afghanistan that we're
8:44 am
leaving and we're seeing this terrible killing of american soldiers. on and on. this is a foreign policy failure. and the american people may take that into consideration a week from tuesday. >> schieffer: all right, senator, thank you so much. i have to move on. thank you for being with us. we'll be back with former white house chief of staff rahm emanuel in one minute. if we want to improve our schools...
8:45 am
... what should we invest in? maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ... nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation. let's invest in our teachers so they can inspire our students. let's solve this. >> schieffer: and joining us now from akron, ohio, the mayor of chicago, rahm emanuel. mr. mayor, thank you so much. and i'm never one to presume to know what the answers are before i ask the questions, but my guess is you will will have a slightly different take on events and what we just heard from senator mccain. >> very good, bob. yes. first of all, the president immediately ordered an investigation into what happened in benghazi.
8:46 am
second, he wants to find out who's responsible. and third, he will bring them to justice, just like he brought bin laden, and he did refer to the event as a terrorist act. when mitt romney said he did. so that's number one. and the events there are a human tragedy. it's an assault on america. and as commander in chief, he took control and he said exactly what needs to be done. none of us are privy to the information. i'm not. i'm the mayor of the city of chicago. but if the commander in chief says i want to get to the bottom of it, i want an investigation, get the report, find out who is accountable, who is responsible for this act, and we will bring them to justice, just like he did when he brought justice to osama bin laden and the al qaeda leadership that is decimated in the afghanistan and pakistan area and just like he did to alawki hiding in yemen who tried to bring two terrorist attacking to the united states. that's what the commander in
8:47 am
chief was. >> schieffer: you weren't there, but you were white house chief of staff-- >> rumor has it. >> schieffer: so many of-- versions of events could come out of this thing? i mean, you know, yes, yes, he-- yes, he said in the rose garden, he referred to a terrorist attack. but five days later, susan rice was right here on this broadcast and on other sunday broadcasts saying that no, it wasn't. and i mean, how is that that could happen? that was just-- go ahead. >> bob, first of all, no, bob, you have an event, a changing event. you don't have people on the ground with that information. the intelligence community, many different apparatus from military intelligence, national security, cia, is acellpling that information and events change. when susan but out there she was working off the intelligence provided that the point. let me go toy point the senator just said.
8:48 am
you have benghazi, information changes while asking for realtime information. you're getting that changed all the time while the intelligence community assesses what happened. the senator made a point about foreign policy. let's go through this. on iran, when we-- when the president came into office, america was isolated from the world and people were questioning our judgments. three years later, the tables have been turned, and iran is now isolate from the the rest of the world. you have crip sanctions. that is not a failure. that is a success of america's leadership. second, since we have been at war for decadees, two wars, one the longest in american history. the president committed to bring iraq to an end, and now our word is committed and people know it, and seen what we have done. second he had a surge in afghanistan, and now we're withdrawing, all with the purpose of coming home and building america and the best foreign policy you can have is a strong america at home. and he's made sure we ipvest here in america and invest in our roads and bridges and highways and our schools and our broadband, our infrastructure and our educational system.
8:49 am
that's the strongest part of our foreign policy. third, he's reoriented america towards the pacific and making sure we are there as a credible ally to our aauthorize as china is emerging. at every level america's foreign policy abroad in europe, asia, africa, the middle east is respected because they have seen this president take decisive leadership, take positions that he has executed from iran to the protection of israel, to change the war in iraq and america's foreign fols rebuilding us at home, reorienting america's resources to the the threat coming, the challenge coming from china. that is a foreign policy that has made america continue to be the leader of the free world and with its values. and i would actually disagree with what the senator said. if you look across the waterfront, america's leadership has never been stronger. >> schieffer: why do you think this vase so close righ race is so close right now? >> first of all, there's a lot at stake. we have still a lot of work, allegation want president said, to come home and build m.
8:50 am
we just ended a decade, two major events. we have the longest war in american history. we drained our resources. and for the first decade in american history, during the bush presidency, america's middle class saw their household income declean. and that is a rupture in the american fabric. and the president said to be strong at home, to be strong abroad, you must have an economic strategy built on the middle class. they weathered the worst recession in the american history. and step by step, right here in ohio he took the most courageous act also, to rebuild the auto industry. i just left toledo, where they are adding a third shift to the jeep factory there. if it was up to mitt romney, he would have let it all go bankrupt because of the president's decision against conventional wisdom out of washington and new york, those auto jobs are beingaldealded and america is now adding auto jobs. it's strengthening not only those jobs but communities like
8:51 am
toledo. i'm in akron, and you can see ohio-- when the president came into office the unemployment level in ohio was north of 10%. today it's at 7%, three full points drop. why? because of the decision putting the auto industry and the auto communities first, not letting it go bankrupt, like mitt romney. now, we know-- we're nowhere close where we need to be and the president says to get-- to build america at home, invest in our schools, invest in our people, our roads, our bridges and railway and airports and that's how you make america that has a 21st century economy running on a 21st century foundation. >> schieffer: what happened to the women's vote? the prfs the way ahead. that seems to be closing. are you going to be able to get that back? >> i'm here in ohio. i just checked the early vote. the president is up almost two to one over mitt romney. and that's an indication that the field operation, the communication strategy, and the message of a resurgence of strengthening middle class is essential. and also the choice that women
8:52 am
have to face on a host of issues from economic to health care issues that i think the president's message is right for them. if you look at the early votes in iowa, ohio, florida, the president's campaign is actually-- an investment that he made in the "get out of vote" effort identifying their voters is starting to pay off because they're beating all their numbers from '08. >> schieffer: we have to stop you there. the clock ran out. back with personal thoughts nay second. >> thanks, bob. born with. something you'r and inspires the things you choose to do. you do what you do... because it matters. at hp we don't just believe in the power of technology. we believe in the power of people when technology works for you. to dream. to create. to work. if you're going to do something.
8:53 am
make it matter. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. i'i invest in what i know.r. i turned 65 last week. i'm getting married. planning a life. there are risks, sure. but, there's no reward without it. i want to be prepared for the long haul. i see a world bursting with opportunities. india, china, brazil, ishares, small-caps, large-caps, ishares. industrials. low cost. every dollar counts. ishares. income. dividends. bonds. i like bonds.
8:54 am
ishares. commodities. diversification. choices. my own ideas. ishares. i want to use the same stuff the big guys use. ishares. 9 out of 10 large, professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. introducing the ishares core, etfs for the heart of your portfolio. tax efficient and low cost building blocks to help you keep more of what you earn. call your advisor. visit ishares.com. ishares. yeah, ishares. ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. >> schieffer: it is an honor to moderate a presidential debate, and while i never say never at this stage of my life, i can't imagine i'd ever do another. so here are some observations after doing three of them. they seem to work best when the candidates are seated at a table rather than behind the morformal podiums or wandering around the
8:55 am
stage in a town hall format. the debates do matter and people like them. around 60 million people will gather around their television sets on three separate nights. that means it's obvious voters find them relevant. even more important, they are one of the rare events left in modern politics that people from both sides of the political spectrum will watch at the same time. even when you zto hold your nose listening to the other guy from time to time can be a learning experience. that's why i believe we should have more, not fewer debates, instead of three. i propose six, with the first one immediately after the political conventions. starting early and sitting the candidates down face to face could change the entire tone of a campaign. an argument with someone you know, even just a little, is generally conducted on a higher plane than an argument with a stranger. anything that gives us a different version of events than what we get in these awful negative ads cannot be all bad.
8:56 am
the debates are one of the few things that can do that. i hope we'll see more of them. back in a moment. with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life. information on my phone. connection to doctors who get where i'm from. and tools to estimate what my care may cost. so i never missed a beat. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. the economy needs manufacturing. machines, tools, people making stuff. companies have to invest in making things. infrastructure, construction, production. we need it now more than ever. chevron's putting more than $8 billion dollars back in the u.s. economy this year. in pipes, cement, steel, jobs, energy. we need to get the wheels turning. i'm proud of that.
8:57 am
making real things... for real. ...that make a real difference. ♪ for real. ...that make a real difference. the data she shares from comments, reviews, and social networks tells a company what to make. what it's made from, how it's shipped, and the way it's sold. some companies are increasing sales up to 20% by using analytics to tailor experiences to the one person that matters most. that's what i'm working on. i'm an ibmer. let's build a smarter planet. governor of getting it done. you know how to dance... with a deadline. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. this is awesome.
8:58 am
[ male announcer ] yes, it is, business pro. yes, it is. go national. go like a pro. with features like scanning a barcode to get detailed stock quotes to voice recognition. e-trade leads the way in wherever, whenever investing. download the ultimate in mobile investing apps, free, at e-trade. >> schieffer: some of our stations are leaving us now. for most of you, we'll be back with our powerhouse political roundtable and an update on the weather. stay with us. ,,,,,,,,
8:59 am

214 Views

2 Favorites

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on